RAIN Technology Inc. announced at AAPEX the public launch of “Ortho,” a voice assistant that is purpose-built to drive efficiency in auto repair. After 18 months of development and co-creation alongside forward-thinking shop owners and technicians, Ortho has been piloted in more than a dozen shops across the U.S. and Canada in recent months. On average, technicians using Ortho estimate saving as much as two hours a week across a wide range of repair and maintenance procedures.

Housed inside a ruggedized tablet, Ortho offers a hands-free, lightning-fast data lookup experience, delivering concise and accurate answers in just seconds, the company said. Simply by saying “Hey Ortho” and asking a question, users get instant access to hundreds of specs (e.g., torques, measurements), fluid details (e.g., capacities, types), diagrams (e.g., mounting points) and maintenance intervals, all specific to the vehicle being worked on. Vehicles can be loaded easily by leveraging select shop management system integrations, scanning a VIN or manually selecting Year/Make/Model.

Extracting information from traditional repair databases can take many minutes, even if a technician is looking for a single datapoint; it requires setting down tools, walking across the shop to a computer terminal, cleaning hands, typing a search query and scanning results pages to find the data in question. In contrast, Ortho allows technicians to stay right in the bay, moving from question to answer in under five seconds.

“In co-creating Ortho alongside technicians and shop owners, we designed an experience that keeps technicians in flow, limits task-switching that can result in lost productivity and presents only the information requested to minimize distraction,” said Kim Conti, Ortho vice president of product.

Answers are displayed clearly on-screen for ease of glancing, and read aloud through text-to-speech. Ortho’s intelligence in the automotive repair domain enables intuitive clarifications (e.g., if a user asks for a brake pad discard thickness, Ortho will confirm: “Did you mean front or rear?”) and natural, conversational language from users.

Ortho’s capabilities are applicable to a number of different aftermarket service segments, from independent mechanical repair facilities to quick lube and tire shops to service franchises, all of which are already using the product. Ortho includes a free trial, offers flexible pricing models for individuals and shops, and comes with a voice-optimized tablet.

The company is at booth #5057.